Managing User Privileges and Roles

Privileges and roles are used to control user access to data and the types of SQL statements that can be executed. The table that follows describes the three types of privileges and roles:

Type

Description

System privilege

A system-defined privilege usually granted only by administrators. These privileges allow users to perform specific database operations.

Object privilege

A system-defined privilege that controls access to a specific object.

Role

A collection of privileges and other roles. Some system-defined roles exist, but most are created by administrators. Roles group together privileges and other roles, which facilitates the granting of multiple privileges and roles to users.

Privileges and roles can be granted to other users by users who have been granted the privilege to do so. The granting of roles and privileges starts at the administrator level. At database creation, the administrative user SYS is created and granted all system privileges and predefined Oracle Database roles. User SYS can then grant privileges and roles to other users, and also grant those users the right to grant specific privileges to others.